The wacky inventions of Rube Goldberg

Gift Wrapping

Need an extra finger to tie a knot
on that Christmas package? This Rube Goldberg device allows the motion of your
arm to operate a crane that presses down an extra digit with just the right
touch.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary
defines "rube goldberg" as an adjective: "Doing something simple
in a very complicated way that is not necessary." But Rube Goldberg was
very much a noun - a cartoonist who always found simple humor in the extremely
complicated.

A new book, "The Art of Rube
Goldberg" (Abrams), celebrates the cartoonist who became an inspiration
for engineers the world over, and a source of mirth for everyone else.

By CBSNews.com senior producer
David Morgan

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Rube Goldberg

Born in San Francisco, Reuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970) graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a degree in engineering. He later entered journalism and moved to New York, where he became a syndicated cartoonist.

His whimsical and overly-complex machines designed to solve the travails of modern life (such as how to get the cotton out of an aspirin bottle) endeared him to generations of engineers, scientists, and everyone else who encounters the wonders and headaches of modern technology.

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

"Peace Today"

Goldberg won a Pulitzer Prize
for political cartooning with this very serious drawing of an atomic bomb on a
precipice, which appeared in the New York Sun on July 22, 1947. But it was his comics of inefficent
inventions that made him a household
name.

After the meal, substitute a harmonica for the
napkin and you'll be able to entertain the guests with a little music.

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Rube Goldberg

New York writer Adam Gopnik, who penned the preface of
"The Art of Rube Goldberg," argues that Goldberg was a great artist
who really understood the modern world.

"I think he had a central insight, that is, we're all
fascinated by complicated machines," Gopnick told correspondent Mo
Rocca. "We love the idea of
mechanisms. One thing touches another thing, which touches another thing, which
boots something else, which makes something else jump."

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Handy For Election Day

Some Rube Goldberg devices to help citizens survive
an election campaign: A mail-box-chopper that turns useless election ads into
confetti; an armored baby carriage to protect infants from being kissed by candidates;
and a microphone that will send a message to particularly windy orators.

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Commuter

PETA might have something to say about Rube
Goldberg's device that catapults a commuter onto a moving train, after scalding
water is sprayed onto a polar bear.

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Just For Wall Streeters

No more stepping off the ledge of a Wall Street skyscraper;
Rube Goldberg proposed his "Automatic suicide device for unlucky stock
speculators":

When Phone (A) rings, it is probably a message from your broker
saying you are wiped out. Phone bell wakes up office manager (B) who stretches,
hitting lever (C) and starting toy glider (D) which nosedives and hits head of
dwarf (D). He jumps up and down from pain, working handle of jack (F), lifting
pig (G) to level of potato (H) on end of bookkeeper's collar button (I). Pig
eats potato and motion of collar button annoys bookkeeper who moves head
forward with sudden jerk, causing string (J) to shoot off gun (K) and end your troubles.

If telephone call is not from broker, you'll
never find out the mistake because you'll be dead anyway.

"In 300 Feet Turn ...Left"

No more getting lost while trying to find
friend's home in the country. When friend invites you for weekend, ask him to
mail you his glove to give bloodhound proper scent. Arrow points way as
bloodhound's nose picks up trail.

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Mosquito Exterminator

The mosquito enters window at (A) and walks
along board, which is strewn with small chunks of rare steak. After munching
steak as he walks, he is overcome by fumes coming from sponge (B) which is
soaked in chloroform, and falls on platform (C). When he regains consciousness,
he looks through telescope (D) and spies reflection of bald head (E) in mirror.
He mistakes this for the real thing, jumps off spring-board (C) through (D) and
dashes his brains out against the mirror, falling lifeless in can (F).

Credit: Copyright Heirs of Rube Goldberg/Courtesy Abrams Books

Staycation

Bottles of scent, recordings of nature sounds, and even a tethered mosquito give the stay-at-home vacationer all the thrills of the great outdoors.